what they want to say and not penalized for personal views or comments on twitter? what do you think? love to talk to you via twitter. thanks for watching. we will be back with 10:00 p.m. for prime time coverage and now, "studio b" with shepard smith right now. >>shepard: what happened with the letterman people? >>megyn: let's not discuss that. >>shepard: we will not discuss it. you look amazing. see you tonight on the tv box. the news begins anew, live from charlotte, on day one, of the democratic national convention. today the youngest mayor of a major american city is set to speak here. plus, first lady will take the stage. that will be awesome. there will be a preview. but, first from fox at 3:00 the president making a final campaign stop before he heads to charlotte, north carolina, to

accept the democratic nomination. speaking in the battleground state of virginia, the president offered a bit of preview of the prime time speech this thursday night. >> on thursday night i will offer what i believe is a better path forward. a path that will create good jobs and strengthen our middle class and grow our economy. >>shepard: the president has blamed the predecessor for getting the economy in the mess that it is and when a school come reporter asked him to grade the performance he gave himself an incomplete. >> what grade to you give yourself? i would say "incomplete." historically after the big financial crises where a lot of people are dealing with debt or a collapse of the housing market, that creates bigger challenges and we are seeing this not just in the united states but around the world. >>shepard: this is not the

first time the president is giving himself an incomplete on the economy but with 60 days until the election the republican rivals are pouncing. a fox poll found that 54 percent of voters disapprove of the handling of the economy, and when asked which candidate they trust to improve things, voters were split, picking the republican ticket by two points in the margin of error. so that is a tie and now karl campaign -- carl cameron is on the trail but, first, ed henry is here in charlotte, the main guy from the white house. what is the fallout? i thought "incomplete," was a good answer. if i am running for re-election and i have had four years and i want four more, i thought it was a perfect answer but something that the republican rivals would jump right on, right? >>reporter: they are jumping on it. where there is a problem for the president, he has said incomplete before and some

democrats say that is a good answer. but one time he told oprah he deserved a b+ and said if he passed health care he would deserve an "a-". now "incomplete," and now paul ryan jumped on that and other democrats say maybe he deserves an a. >> four years into the presidency and incomplete and the president is asking people to be patient. with our kind of recession we should be bouncing out of it creating jobs. we are not crating jobs at pace we could. >> an a for effort, and i give him an "a" for making sure that americans are better off today than they were four years ago. he is being humble when he says that. i do believe that we need four more years.

>> that is the mayor of los angeles, the chairman of the convention but saying "a" for effort could provide more fodder for republicans. >>shepard: how will the republicans counter that? >>reporter: the republicans are jumping on him. the president was laying out his defense in the battleground of virginia and the challenge on thursday night, and that is dealing with the high unemployment and trying to make the case to the american people on thursday night, look, i need four more years to finish the job. here is the president. >> we have come too far to turn back now. we have created a lot of jobs but we have more jobs to create. we have more doors of opportunity to open up for everyone willing to work hard and walk through the doors.

>>reporter: democrats are pushing back on this saying the president not only has an opportunity on tuesday to lay out what he would do but they think mitt romney miss add big opportunity by not spending enough time on what he would do as president. instead, he attacked president obama. >>shepard: thank you. how do you like the music, ed? >>reporter: great to be here. great to be here with you. >>shepard: isn't it though? shucks, ed, good to be here. so we have the democrats under control. we will have more on the democrats in a minute. the republicans are on the road. paul ryan is in the battleground state of ohio today. we understand that governor romney, the presidential candidate for the republicans, is behind closed doors working on the first debate preparation for the first debate the two candidates will have. the wisconsin congressman stepped up the line of attack against the president of the united states asking the crowd, are you better off today than you were four years ago?

vice president am -- vice presidential nominee compared the president to president carter. you cannot look at the suffering problems or the debt crisis, and jobs lost and say we are better off than four years ago. as a matter of fact, president obama's record is worse than jimmy carter's record. look at unemployment. in the cater presidency, in july of 1980 the unemployment rate was 7.8 percent. for the last 42 months under president obama it has been above 8 percent the entire time. >>shepard: the democrats are knocking that down saying they are quick to point out the president got his job at the height of the worst recession since anyone can remember and according to the president the economy has added four million jobs in just the last two years. now to doug, in woodstock, vermont. why vermont, doug? >>reporter: well, good question. it is obviously not a key

battleground state but this is where mitt romney is settling in, just about a few miles up the road for three days of intensive debate preparation. more on that in a second. in his absence of campaigning the next three days he is

>>reporter: participating also in the g.o.p. rapid response, the governor of north carolina, and senate candidate, ted cruz, of texas, who won a bruising primary battle down there and a dozen fact checkers will listen that will happen all during the democratic national convention. >>shepard: back to the debate, how is governor romney doing debate preparation already? >>reporter: he arrived at 10:15 and he is at the home of one of the key advisors, the former lt. governor of massachusetts, and she has 150-acre spread worth about $3.9 million. it is very open air and lends itself to the kind of open forum you would expect in a debate. acting as a stand in for president obama is senator portman of ohio who filled the same role four years ago for senate candidate john mccain. he did such a fine job imitating

president obama in style and substance that after the debate preparation, cindy mccain refused to speak to him for several days after that. we hear, also, that governor romney is not fond of the mock debate preparation, he refers to learn by studying the briefing books and hashing it out with aides on how to respond. we understand from carl cameron that the person who really is running the show is both meyers, protective of the president's time up here in vermont. >>shepard: thank you, doug, chilling in vermont. and now, we have a political reporter for www.realclear politics.com. this incomplete, if you want four more years, incomplete sounded like a good answer but they will have a lot of fun bit. >>guest: that is what he has been saying pretty much, we need

four more years to finish what we started here. that is kind of his rallying cry to people who voted for him before. but, republicans are saying with unemployment above 8 percent for several months we do not have time to wait and neither do the voters who will cast ballots. not obama campaign they have to appeal to a small group of undecided voters and the question they will be asking is, are we patient enough? do we have enough confidence in the president to wait that much longer? >>shepard: how frustrating is it for you to cover a campaign that, really, is down to just a few people in ten states who somehow, i don't know how, but somehow they have not figureed who they want to be president? >>guest: it is exciting because as this campaign

continues, we have predicted a last things. many times they will be swayed arbitrarily. who knows what will sway them? it is interesting watching which campaign thinks what will work for each of those kind of voters. we do not know. who knows if they are pay attention right now. we will know later this year. >>shepard: in theory, over time, no one, a lot of people do thought pay attention until after labor day the you try to enjoy the summer. now, in theory, the kids are back-to-school and you are ready to think about things that matter, right? >>guest: exactly. so you are probably going to be looking for ads. especially in these kind of states. they will look at ads, reading a lot, going to rallies, trying to figure it out. this is where messaging is key. we will see both campaigns cover

the airways. >>shepard: if you are one of those would has not decided, you are supposed to watch the ads and go to rallies and read a lot. that's the right thing to do. then decide. we'll report. you decide. coming up on "studio b," day one in charlotte and we will hear from the first lady, michelle obama and a lot of people getting a lot of buzz inside the democratic party, and one including a guy you will find interesting whether you are right, left, elephant or donkey, the mayor of san antonio is compared to a young president obama coming up on "studio b" live today from a gym in charlotte on america's choice for news and information open cable. great to have you with us. ♪ ♪

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are live from the democratic national convention in charlotte, north carolina. the san antonio mayor will make history tonight, the first latino to deliver the key note speech at the democratic national convention. he is called a "rising star" in the party. the youngest mayor of any american city and will dedicate part of the address do his family's american success story which he says started with his grandmother who was an orphan and emigrated to the united states and taught herself how to speak the language. >>reporter: president obama 2004, an richards, the texas democrat, bam in 1998, gave a memorable address at the democratic national convention. castro did a walk through of the stage a short time ago trying to avoid getting caught up in the

moment, recognizing that there will be nerves. he recognizes his example is an american dream story. he plans to talk about the clear choice facing the american people in the election. but he says he has to be true to himself. >> i'm not someone that they will arrange. it is a give-and-take situation of what i am willing to say, how i will say it and what needs to be said. there is a role for some partisanship. i'm realistic, too. >>reporter: castro is a proud democrat but, also, likes the idea of reaching across the aisle to do bipartisan things. i should note that first time castro met president obama, mr. obama thought he was an intern. but, hey, it is not bad to look young. >>shepard: i don't if you can see the video, but there were two of him up there, that is what it looks like. he has a wind, right? >>guest: his twin brother will

introduce him tonight, in fact. >>shepard: so, we have new details about the democratic platform they will lay out for us, right? >>reporter: that is right. in 2008 the democratic platform says, clearly, that jerusalem is and will be the capital of israel. this time around, it is softening the language so that mitt romney instandpointly -- instantly pounced on that bashing the democrats for not recognizing medium judgment as israel's capital. there is more to the story. wasserman schultz, the chairman of the democratic party, said the u.s., the israeli ambassador to the u.s. has said republicans are being dangerous to israel for criticizing rebound's policies related to israel. today the ambassador oren, he said he categorically denied saying that and it is important to have good relationships from both parties. >>shepard: thank you, mike.

by the way, wasserman schultz will be our guest tonight at 7:00 on the fox report. we will look at castro, and michelle obama is here, the president said when he watches her speech, he will try not to cry. ahhh. more on that. and a look at the weather. as a newspaper put it today it's charlotte's time to shine yet it rains and rains and rains. there is rain in the forecast for thursday. the bank of america stadium over there, where the panthers play, it does not have a roof on it. i figure they will put bret baier and megyn and bill and martha and the other fox news indoors and i'll be on the 50-yard line getting wet in what do you get? kind of hopeful. hopeful. i like the rain. we are live at the democratic national convention. we are glad you are with us. or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements.

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>>shepard: and 7:22, in charlotte, north carolina, the home of the democratic national convention where the first lady, michelle obama, will be on the stage tonight, following the san antonio mayor, castro, who will deliver the key note address. that is a first. no latino has done that before. the aides to the first lady say her speech will focus on personal qualities and will highlight the achievements including the new health care law. so, let's bring in a couple of regulars around here, former special counsel to president clinton who has known president clinton for, what, like 150 years? >>guest: 42 years. >>shepard: and former press secretary for rick santorum, and former press secretary for michele bachmann.

>>shepard: welcome. the first lady tonight, what is her mission? >>guest: well, i think she has a serious side, a message of what her husband has done as president. she has a human side, about what kind of dad he is, what kind of human being he is. if she does both of those, she will do well. >>shepard: appearing doing what? >>guest: showing him as a great husband a great father, and he is a great person. no question. he is just a bad president. she will talk about him more as a person opposed to the leader. it will be hard to talk about the help because it has not made things better for the american people but she will have to, rather than the reaching out of the independents she will have to real in the disaffected supporters. >>shepard: a controversy, there are a few things bubbling

on the 24-hour cable cycle including the president giving himself an "incomplete," and what he is saying, i want for more years, duh. >>guest: he inherited a tough hand and he is digging out of a deep hole. that is not to blame george bush. i am soft on him, he is a good friend of mine but he has to state the fact, he had a tough hand from 2009 and he has done a pretty good job creating 4.5 million jobs and passing national health care and, i hope, appealing to the sill discourse of this country rather than mean spiritedness. >>neil: no debating he had to pull us out of a hole. >>guest: but he said if he does not turn the economy around by this time it would be a one-term politician. with unemployment at 8 percent this long, and g.d.p. at 1.5

percent, and the debt and deficit are skyrocketing out of control, we need new change, like the romney-ryan ticket to pull in the size of government and encourage free market enterprise and the middle class job plan is what we need to get jobs creates. >>shepard: another thing bubbling around which is uncomfortable to talk about, this quote that bill clinton is alleged to have at one point said, there was a time when he would have been carrying our bags for us, meaning, that president obama, there was a time when he would have been carrying the bags for the clintons. we spoke briefly before this program. you have known bill clinton for 42 years. we, as people, in society, have known bill clinton for a long-term. never heard anything like that out of bill clinton. >>guest: first of all, it is impossible that he would have said that much less to ted kennedy, impossible. second, the report certificate a great recorder but he is relying

on someone who passed away who told it to someone who told it to someone and that is what is being written. do not believe firsthand hearsay much less hearsay by someone who has passed away. i don't know why they publish second-happened hear way. >>shepard: this campaign is gross on both sides? >>guest: it has. the problem is we have an administration rather than focusing on the record which is dip california of the incumbent, it is not a record he wants to talk about so he is going negative and making personal attacks against the competition because he does not have a record run on. we need to have the romney-ryan ticket, they are staying focused, on the issue that people of this country are concerned about. you have been out there. >>shepard: i have and i heard it go as negative as anything i heard during the primary. you cannot deny that. at gingrich about it.

>>guest: that is part of the primary process. >>shepard: all the nasty is part of the process. >>guest: the key is to get the focus on jobs and the economy. >>shepard: i have not heard that. they are talking we should talk jobs and the economy but no one, no one has much to say about jobs and the economy. >>guest: listen carefully to bill clinton because he was picked as key note speaker because he does have the ability to disagree agreeably, to be civil, and not to demonize opposition. that is what president obama has to listen to, and do in his acceptance. >>shepard: we will try. we will try. we will try, lanny. >>guest: as long as i have known him, converting enemies into friend and has not made friends into enemies. >>guest: he is great speaker and beloved but he will call attention to the fact during his leadership we had we economic prosperity. >>shepard: those were good times. >>guest: now we have economic

turmoil. >>shepard: it was good times. >>guest: that will call attention to that and it will certainly be great, hopefully they -- they do not have the one hour time limit as in 1998. i was there. i saw it. >>shepard: it was a long speech. undecided voters, are you even out there? i read that you exist, right? i know you do because i read it the if you read it, if it is on the intent, it has to be true. there are undecided voters, people, here on the day after labor day, have not decided whether they want the one we have now or the one who wants do do it. stick around. i'm freaking out man.

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>>shepard: this is "studio b" at the bottom of the hour and time for the top of the news. live this afternoon from charlotte, north carolina. the battle for the undecided voters could make all the difference especially in north carolina, the site of the democratic national convention. in 2008, the president, well, the then senator obama, edged out senator john mccain in north carolina by less than half of a percent, less than 17,000 people. this is the latest from the charlotte observer newspaper, 47 percent of likely voters will pick governor romney compared with 43 for president obama. that is in the margin of error. you can see it was taken before

the democratic convention. 6 percent were undecideed. they will be important. james has the news. james? >>reporter: good afternoon. fox talked to and listened to undecided voters in north carolina. we heard about the deep level of anxiety about the state of the country and their family's future. i am looking for someone who will help the middle class and open up jobs. i have a son who 25. it is hard for him to find a job. i feel that we are not getting what we were told we were going to get. i voted for obama then. now, i think, our economy is worse than it was before. i think we need some kind of change. i'm not sure just what. >>reporter: the demographic group that posted the strongest gain in shear voting numbers last time, was african-americans, 127,000 more

of them showed up to cast ballots in the state than in 2004. the president will need black turn out to remain at that historic level four years ago to remain competitive, especially if he splits the undecided with governor romney as experts deem likely. >> when people said they were undecided we asked, if you had to choose, right, which would you choose? a portion of them would choose a candidate. so, in a sense, we do get a pretty good gauge. we found the undecided split pretty evenly teen the two candidates. >>reporter: this is a reason why the national urban league this summer called african-americans the hidden swing voters. what would the drop off in the black vote need to be in order for president obama to be seriously in trouble in north carolina, ohio and virginia? follow me on twitter and i will tweet it out right now. >>shepard: tweet it out. president obama will deliver the acceptance speech on thursday night down the road from here at

the stadium where the panthers play, a huge place holding 70,000 people. the problem is, there is not a roof. football is a game meant to be played outdoors, end of state, period. but not so good for speeches. we should go to the local meteorologist from fox charlotte. it has been a gully washer. >>guest: it has. a pile moisture across north carolina and south carolina including uptown where you are right now. that is expected to start to shift to the east as we get into thursday. however, some of the lingering moisture will be trapped at surface. i will show you an inhouse computer model we have, on thursday afternoon at 2:00, the area where you are is marked, and you can see potential for shower activity. later in the afternoon, the chances diminish and by 6:00, we are looking at 30 percent or 20

percent chance of coverage of showers or thunderstorms across our area. it is really not going to be a big issue. of course, today we are looking at big thunderstorms. by the time 8:00 or 9:00 rolls around a lot of the folk going through the check point at the stadium, i do believe it is only 20 percent chance of storms, the best way of the entire democratic national convention could be as president obama is finishing the speech to the nation. >>shepard: that is not good news. it does not need to rain. it sounds like they are landing aircraft this this thick -- thing in my ear. sometimes air traffic control ends up in my ear. very annoying. thanks to the good folks at follow charlotte you are doing a good job. he delivered this speech, right, and the last time governor romney slammed the president's record on iran and israel. but the republican nominee made

no mention of afghanistan, at all, as if there was no war, something the democrats were quick to point out. the obama campaign has accused governor romney of offering few specifics. now, we have pulitzer prize winning journalist, judith miller and adjuncts -- adjunct fellow at the manhattan think tank. >>guest: during his acceptance speech, governor romney uttered exactly 202 words about foreign policy. that is about 5 percent of the speech. that being said there is a difference in tone, a marked difference in tone, between the two men. governor romney has a much more traditionally realist foreign policy. he wants strong relations with the allies. he wants to be much tougher for our foes or potential foes. president obama is very much

about reset, about reaching out, reset with russia, reaching out to those who were opposed to us. it has not worked out very well but he has a very strong record when it comes to commando and drone attacks. he is not afraid to use force which makes it difficult for governor romney to attack him on the traditional republican versus democratic lines. >>shepard: as a journalist you not that surprised that a republican is not bringing up the wars? >>guest: i am not. but it is interesting they do have differences. it is true that no one is talking about syria. on the other hand, governor romney has said that he would farm the opposition. president has been much more cautious about that pointing out that we are not sure there are a lot of people in the opposition who we would like to see get american weapons. so, you can find differences not only of tone but, also, of specific policy.

>>shepard: the romney camp has discussed sapping troops over there. >>guest: they have not committed to that. >>shepard: i said "discussed." >>guest: it is discussed. i am sure president obama has also been discussing what to do if the syrians actually use chemical weapons. they have drawn that red line. they have said, don't even think about it to assad. we know there are contingency plans to have a more robust response when, and if, that occurs. >>shepard: we see what happens. judy miller, look forward to seeing you next week. >>guest: look forward to seeing you back here, too. >>shepard: the national debt, by a miracle today on day one of the democratic national convention the debt clock hit $16,000. how did that happen? just the luck of the draw. if democrats neglect to mention that number count on republicans to remind them of it. and gerri willis will look at the impact, next, from new york.

well be live from charlotte, north carolina, as we cover the proceeding. we are two-thirds of the way through and a third of the way to neil cavuto. hang on tight. [ mother ] you can't leave the table

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>>shepard: on the same day the democrats kickoff the convention here in charlotte, the treasury department reports that the debt will top $16 trillion. there is a debt clock. there it is. look at it move around. already the highest the country has seen. several factors add to the rising number. the wars, all the tax cuts, and the economic downturn, which, obviously, began in 2007. republicans made the national debt a focal point of the convention in republican national convention, complete with huge clocks keeping count. you will not find the clocks here. those reminders are not to be found here. gerri willis, the democrats the not highlight the debt numbers, they are in power, right?

>>gerri: $5 trillion is how much the debt has gone up under president obama. but everyone seems to share in this pain. under clinton the national debt went up by $1.5 trillion, over eight years. over george w. public, eight year term, it went up $4.8 trillion. now, the democrats are trying to defend themselves, just this weekend, obama senior campaign advisor axelrod had this to say. >> the president's plan would do what the simpson-bowles would do, cut the deficit by $4 trillion, reduce it to under 3 percent of the g.d.p. which everyone agrees we need to stabilize the debt. with growth, we will be in a position to reduce it further. >>gerri: axelrod went on to say if we paid down the debt it could hurt the economy. >>shepard: of course, the debt keeps on rising. if you keep spending and you do

not raise taxes, well, that is all that can happen. >>gerri: we have $133 million an hour, $4 billion a day, we are expected to hit $16 trillion in the 6:00 hour and let me tell you, this is equal to the combined economic output of all european economies. that is $16 trillion. that gives you an idea how big the national debt is. >>shepard: we will hit that during 6:00 during the national evening newscast on the big networks, right? gear gore i am sure they arranged it that way. >>shepard: i am confident. nice to see you, gerri. >>gerri: good to see you. >>shepard: families across mississippi and louisiana are still mopping up, many cleaning up in the summer heat still, with no electricity. do you know how hot it is in louisiana on labor day? good grief! as our coverage continues from day one of the democratic national convention, we are live if charlotte, north carolina,

indoors, where it is nice and cool. we will be right back. neil cavuto is 14 minutes away.

>>shepard: nearly a week after hurricane isaac slammed into the gulf coast, tens of thousands of people across three states are still without electricity. even if the flood waters are receding many people are staying in shelters. casey has been coughing this for more than a week. he is in louisiana this afternoon. how are the storm victims getting help? >>casey: well, you hate to sound cheesy but it is times like this that it feels good to be an american because people in this country are pulling together. we are talking about neighbor helping neighbor, removing trees from people's yards, downed power lines, out and working. you have the local and state and

federal governments working in harmony in many cases. we have been talking to people coming in and out of this fema shelter would have been applying for aid to get temporary housing, into hotels to at least get some electricity. the feds say that nearly 94,000 people so far have applied for aid with the federal government. there is a silver lining: the energy company is telling us that 95 percent of the power has been restored to the state of louisiana. they hope to have the other 5 percent up and running by tonight except in the areas that are still flooded that they cannot get in, to repair the infrastructure. >>shepard: down in plaquemines parish a lot of people living in that realty. it is unbelievable. we are getting a better idea how badly this affected oil production in the gulf, right? >>casey: boy, it really had a big impact when you consider it

was a week ago today that we were here, when this storm made landfall. as of today, 58 percent of the total gulf oil supply, the gulf oil production, is still off line at this hour. that translates into 800,000 fewer barrels of oil coming out of the gulf. of course, that means higher gas prices, all around the country. nine refineries, we can tell you, are running at a reduced capacity. however, there is actually a philips 66 refinery right here that, still, is not operational, because it does not have power yet. >>shepard: casey, thank you from the sweltering hot day in louisiana. it is a mess out west, as well. a huge wildfire near los angeles could burn for a full week. so far, it has scorched 3 the acres in the angeles national forest.

campers were ordered out over the holiday weekend, ruining weekend plans and affecting area rehab centers. a woman says she is staying put. even if the fire creeps closer. >> i don't want this place to burn up. i hope...we cannot control mother nature. our firemen are in the heat. >>shepard: hope it does not burn with her in it. that would be horrible. concerns of the firefighters are well founded. five have been made sick. adam, what is the latest on this? >>reporter: the terrain is so difficult. it is nearly 100 degrees out there, but the terrain is 80 percent incline. that is what the firefighters are going after in the low-lying flames on their happeneds and knees. you saw the footage overnight as the fire buns. 15 percent containment so far is what we are told.

that is it. there are light winds. but there are 500 firefighters, about ten aircraft, doing what they can. also, it is burning away from major housing developments. it is threatening a few camp grounds and a couple of mobile homes, mostly the people that were evacuated out over the holiday weekend, they were evacuated because firefighters needed the roads to be completely clear so they could get in with the equipment. but it is not threatening major homes, those would live down the hillside, they are still very worried. i was up at 4:00 in the morning to check the fire. >> some people have no other place to go. they are making it just barely. >>reporter: for those fought from southern california, you fly into lax, it is the mountains to the right burning right now. >>shepard: it seems like the fire season is going on forever.

and there are months to go. >>reporter: california has 2 1/2 months left. other states may have a shorter time because the humidity comes back up and the days are shorter. i have numbers for you: usually at this time of year five million acres are burned but this year, seven million have burned. in utah they are $16 million over budget. washington state is $7 million over budget and montana will spend $25 million just fighting fires this year. >>shepard: $25 million, wow. thank you, adam. put yourself in this position: you are hiking, you are trapped, four days, with no food, and no water, you are in a hole and your leg is shattered. it happened to a guy. wait until you hear how he got out alive coming up from democratic national convention.

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>>shepard: now, in utah, a hurricane survived four days in a tunnel he fell into without food, without water. he was exploring the foothills east of salt lake city and he plunged into a drainage pipe. hard landing, that shatter his legs. i am at full speed and, boom, i hit hit the bottom the drainage tunnel and i could feel my bone protruding from my leg. >>shepard: and he is smiling about it. the broke leg made it nearly impossible for him to move. look at that. he says the cell phone died, obviously association he banged a rock on the pipe to try to get some attention. no one came. after days without eating or drinking or anything, he used a piece of wood to make a splint